When customers come to brick and mortar establishments these days, their minds are usually already made up about the product or service that they want to purchase. That’s because they have Googled a company or brand first to check its online reputation, to guide their decision.
But many organizations do not know exactly how to boost their reputation in the digital world. Here are three concrete steps to take, described in detail.
Step 1: Conduct a cursory search. The first step involves determining baselines: Knowing where you currently stand, so you see what your strengths are, and where there is room for improvement. Try to be in the shoes of your prospective customer: Use Google and other search engines to search for information about your organization and your brand offerings. Go to popular review sites and search for mentions of your brand. Check out Better Business Bureau listings, as well as forums where consumers, jobseekers, members of the press, and other internet users can potentially talk about your organization.
Step 2: Create a list of relevant spaces for building profiles. Now that you know where you are present, it’s time to know where you should be. Which prominent databases should you be in but have no profiles for at the moment? Do you have accounts on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn, Twitter, and the likes? Do you have a page on Wikipedia? Are you listed in the local business directory for your neighborhood or city? Does your organization show up as one of the industry association’s members? If you’re a restaurant, is your menu up on restaurant review sites like Yelp or Zomato? If you’re running a hotel, is it listed in TripAdvisor? These are just examples of determining where your brand should have a presence in.
Step 3. Set up a team for “cleaning up” your name. You may encounter both positive and negative content during your search. To delete the negative material, you need a team, and a strategy. It may involve reporting the page or post to the site administrators, contacting the person behind it, or composing a response that addresses the accusation. Cleaning up should also cover deleting redundancies in profiles, or ensuring that you have a consistent description across the digital world. In short, it’s about streamlining your profile, and clearly conveying what your organization is about.
Partner with online reputation management experts today to learn more.
Lunes, Disyembre 7, 2015
Martes, Setyembre 1, 2015
How to Deal With Online Reputation Issues (Part 2)
For part 1 of this series, click here.
Now that people almost always search online to find reviews about companies and brands before making a purchase, online reputation is something to guard closely. Below are some more options for companies facing controversies or criticism online, to maintain the brand strength, and therefore keep the customers coming.
Respond promptly. Some comments on social media may really be politely-worded constructive criticisms from supporters who were disappointed by the company’s product or service just this one time. Comments like this should evoke an immediate response that thanks the customer for providing feedback, and promising swift action. Responding promptly is important because the company takes ownership of the conversation, making sure that it goes only in the preferred direction (read: puts the company in a positive light). Investigation should be conducted to verify the complaint, and thereafter, the resolution should be posted for all to see. The response could be an apology or a defense: but the key is to reassure the complaining customer and the prospective customers that action is being taken for the incident not to happen again.
Respond indirectly. Sometimes a comment can be too damaging to ignore, and yet damaging to address directly as well. For example, if the criticism also involves a competitor brand, a direct response may also inadvertently provide the competing brand the exposure. An indirect response can be the “cool” option: the company puts itself above the fray, and does not provide more traction to the harsh criticism. For example, a criticism about the quality of the company’s product can be addressed with a post about an award, or acclaim that the same product received. It will show the skeptics and critics that perhaps, the issue is just a matter of opinion, not fact.
Complain to the authorities. If the criticism or negative content is damaging, malicious, and/or based on something fabricated, reporting to the authorities can be an option. Blocking and reporting are examples of complaining (since the page “authorities” get notified), but these are just preliminary steps. If the source is a journalist, or a reviewer in his industry, the aggrieved company can report the incident to the person’s employer, emphasizing concerns regarding ethics and professionalism.
Just a rule of thumb for all of these steps in online reputation management: where the customer posted the criticism, the response should be on that medium as well. An exception would be if the controversy unnaturally arose on the asset of another party which may not be inclined to host the conversation on their space. In such cases, the response should note that interested parties should go to the specific other venue to follow the discussion.
Now that people almost always search online to find reviews about companies and brands before making a purchase, online reputation is something to guard closely. Below are some more options for companies facing controversies or criticism online, to maintain the brand strength, and therefore keep the customers coming.
Respond promptly. Some comments on social media may really be politely-worded constructive criticisms from supporters who were disappointed by the company’s product or service just this one time. Comments like this should evoke an immediate response that thanks the customer for providing feedback, and promising swift action. Responding promptly is important because the company takes ownership of the conversation, making sure that it goes only in the preferred direction (read: puts the company in a positive light). Investigation should be conducted to verify the complaint, and thereafter, the resolution should be posted for all to see. The response could be an apology or a defense: but the key is to reassure the complaining customer and the prospective customers that action is being taken for the incident not to happen again.
Respond indirectly. Sometimes a comment can be too damaging to ignore, and yet damaging to address directly as well. For example, if the criticism also involves a competitor brand, a direct response may also inadvertently provide the competing brand the exposure. An indirect response can be the “cool” option: the company puts itself above the fray, and does not provide more traction to the harsh criticism. For example, a criticism about the quality of the company’s product can be addressed with a post about an award, or acclaim that the same product received. It will show the skeptics and critics that perhaps, the issue is just a matter of opinion, not fact.
Complain to the authorities. If the criticism or negative content is damaging, malicious, and/or based on something fabricated, reporting to the authorities can be an option. Blocking and reporting are examples of complaining (since the page “authorities” get notified), but these are just preliminary steps. If the source is a journalist, or a reviewer in his industry, the aggrieved company can report the incident to the person’s employer, emphasizing concerns regarding ethics and professionalism.
Just a rule of thumb for all of these steps in online reputation management: where the customer posted the criticism, the response should be on that medium as well. An exception would be if the controversy unnaturally arose on the asset of another party which may not be inclined to host the conversation on their space. In such cases, the response should note that interested parties should go to the specific other venue to follow the discussion.
Martes, Agosto 25, 2015
How to Deal With Online Reputation Issues
These days, a single 50-character badly-worded tweet, or a 10-second Vine taken out of context can make or break a brand. With the rise of social media that has brought company-customer and customer-customer interaction to whole new levels, skills in managing the company’s online reputation becomes handy.
The question is, what exactly does one do when something unfortunate like this happens? And how does a PR-savvy company deal with controversies that happen in this age? Here are the basic options that should be deliberated on thoroughly, on a case-to-case basis.
Ignore. Say, a customer says something bad about a brand, on his Twitter. It could be an uninformed rant, or something with basis, such as an unpleasant experience in the company’s establishment. If it’s the former, and if the person in question does not exactly have a following, then ignoring may be the best option. It does not put more undeserved attention to his post, and the company will not be engaged in a conversation that they do not want to be in. If it is the latter, choosing to ignore can still be an option, if the rant uses foul language, or if the person simply seeks to draw attention more than obtaining “justice.”
Delete. If the venue of the post is the company’s account, say, their Facebook page, or their blog, then there is the added option to delete user comments that are baseless and/or nastily worded. The key to this is regular and comprehensive monitoring of the company’s social media assets, exactly to nip these kinds of conversations in the bud. This way, less people will be able to see such negative posts. On Facebook, another option is to just hide them, so that the original poster will mistakenly believe that their comment is still visible. For very special cases, in which the user does not even appear to be a real person with a proper profile but just trolling around, blocking from social media accounts helps keep the company’s online reputation spotlessly clean.
Delayed response. Yes, this is an option. Sometimes, a topic can be so controversial that releasing a knee-jerk reaction can just be disastrous. Or, the company can just sound very defensive and so offended, which may dignify a comment that should not be. Delaying the response, until the “smoke has cleared” so to speak, can be a great option if the company is sure that it is on the right, and that the course of things will vindicate their organization.
The question is, what exactly does one do when something unfortunate like this happens? And how does a PR-savvy company deal with controversies that happen in this age? Here are the basic options that should be deliberated on thoroughly, on a case-to-case basis.
Ignore. Say, a customer says something bad about a brand, on his Twitter. It could be an uninformed rant, or something with basis, such as an unpleasant experience in the company’s establishment. If it’s the former, and if the person in question does not exactly have a following, then ignoring may be the best option. It does not put more undeserved attention to his post, and the company will not be engaged in a conversation that they do not want to be in. If it is the latter, choosing to ignore can still be an option, if the rant uses foul language, or if the person simply seeks to draw attention more than obtaining “justice.”
Delete. If the venue of the post is the company’s account, say, their Facebook page, or their blog, then there is the added option to delete user comments that are baseless and/or nastily worded. The key to this is regular and comprehensive monitoring of the company’s social media assets, exactly to nip these kinds of conversations in the bud. This way, less people will be able to see such negative posts. On Facebook, another option is to just hide them, so that the original poster will mistakenly believe that their comment is still visible. For very special cases, in which the user does not even appear to be a real person with a proper profile but just trolling around, blocking from social media accounts helps keep the company’s online reputation spotlessly clean.
Delayed response. Yes, this is an option. Sometimes, a topic can be so controversial that releasing a knee-jerk reaction can just be disastrous. Or, the company can just sound very defensive and so offended, which may dignify a comment that should not be. Delaying the response, until the “smoke has cleared” so to speak, can be a great option if the company is sure that it is on the right, and that the course of things will vindicate their organization.
Miyerkules, Mayo 6, 2015
Institutional Investors Drive Hedge Fund Branding
Hedge fund branding is increasing in significance as SEC lifts its ban on advertising private funds and institutional investors demand secretive firms to open up and explain what they do.
JOBS Act
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 has ended the ban on advertising private funds to the general public. As a result, it has provided reassurance to hedge fund managers that creating a strong brand for their companies is not only permissible,but highly necessary. Since recently, very few hedge fund firms have intentionally developed a marketing and branding plan that is targeted to existing clients, prospective clients, and even the general population.
Branding Newbies
Those who are newbies to hedge fund branding can start by improving their Internet presence through more user-friendly, attractive, and modern-looking websites. They can also slowly ease their way into social media such as Facebook and Twitter to present a more approachable face to potential investors. Another simple step to start branding would be to produce hedge fund marketing materials such as informational brochures that can explain their hedge fund company and their investment strategy in a nutshell.
Open Communication
It used to be that hedge fund managers were so secretive and aloof, that they would even hesitate to open up to their existing clients. As institutions have become the major source of capital investment in the past few years, hedge fund managers are being pressured to communicate more regularly and openly to their clients.
Hiring for Marketing
Hedge funds never used to worry about recruitment as they could easily afford the best talent for specific tasks. However, as hedge fund marketing comes to the industry’s forefront, most hedge funds now require communication specialists and client relation experts. Another move is to start partnerships with hedge fund marketing solutions providers that can offer customized products and services targeted to specific investor channels.
Branding Pays Off
Marketing moves should target institutional investors who can make significant capital investments in the long-term. Blue Mountain Capital Management, New York, has been implementing its branding strategy over the past few years and so far, it has resulted to $13.1 billion in institutional investments.
Branding Will Make or Break Your Company
Hedge fund branding starts with a vision of what your company stands for. It should convey what you offer to investors, employees, and the industry. Institutional investors are conservative and they expect performance but also consistent communication, and professionalism. The latter two cannot be achieved without effective hedge fund branding.
JOBS Act
The Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act of 2012 has ended the ban on advertising private funds to the general public. As a result, it has provided reassurance to hedge fund managers that creating a strong brand for their companies is not only permissible,but highly necessary. Since recently, very few hedge fund firms have intentionally developed a marketing and branding plan that is targeted to existing clients, prospective clients, and even the general population.
Branding Newbies
Those who are newbies to hedge fund branding can start by improving their Internet presence through more user-friendly, attractive, and modern-looking websites. They can also slowly ease their way into social media such as Facebook and Twitter to present a more approachable face to potential investors. Another simple step to start branding would be to produce hedge fund marketing materials such as informational brochures that can explain their hedge fund company and their investment strategy in a nutshell.
Open Communication
It used to be that hedge fund managers were so secretive and aloof, that they would even hesitate to open up to their existing clients. As institutions have become the major source of capital investment in the past few years, hedge fund managers are being pressured to communicate more regularly and openly to their clients.
Hiring for Marketing
Hedge funds never used to worry about recruitment as they could easily afford the best talent for specific tasks. However, as hedge fund marketing comes to the industry’s forefront, most hedge funds now require communication specialists and client relation experts. Another move is to start partnerships with hedge fund marketing solutions providers that can offer customized products and services targeted to specific investor channels.
Branding Pays Off
Marketing moves should target institutional investors who can make significant capital investments in the long-term. Blue Mountain Capital Management, New York, has been implementing its branding strategy over the past few years and so far, it has resulted to $13.1 billion in institutional investments.
Branding Will Make or Break Your Company
Hedge fund branding starts with a vision of what your company stands for. It should convey what you offer to investors, employees, and the industry. Institutional investors are conservative and they expect performance but also consistent communication, and professionalism. The latter two cannot be achieved without effective hedge fund branding.
Miyerkules, Pebrero 25, 2015
Pointers When Enlisting Graphic Design Services
In enlisting graphic design services for the development your marketing materials, it is not enough that you have a great product selection in front of you. Just like in any sales scenario, you need to know what it is that you need exactly, to be able to get the most value out of your money.
Here are important notes when hiring a graphic design agency to deliver the “goods,” say, a new logo, or a website re-design.
Know exactly what you already have and what you need. It is wise not to expect a graphic design agency to know the full range of your communication needs. So before talking to an agency, discuss first within your organization what the particular marketing goals are. These should be aligned with overall company vision and goals for the year, then broken down into particular objectives, and when you want each of these accomplished. Then, check what materials you already have, and whether some of these simply need to be updated. Only then can you brainstorm with an agency what else can be developed to meet each goal.
Compose a written contract for every job order, and have it signed. Some companies forego this process, especially when they are dealing with add-ons. For example, they just sought a design for a custom marketing material for an event, but realized the company brochure need to be updated. To avoid confusion, every job order should have a carefully written description, one that includes the definite timeline and the fee, among other details. Then, it should be duly signed by the agency representative.
Designate a single point of contact for the company. There have been too many horror stories of a simple task taking twice or thrice as long to complete because a lot of voices seek to be heard. It confuses the designer, and diffuses accountability when the final output is not up to par with expectations. On the other hand, having a single point of contact – most preferably someone from the corporate communications who is conversant in visual communications – ensures that requests adhere to the company’s guidelines, and at the same time understood well by a graphic design services provider from outside the company.
Have an efficient approval system. Whatever material you intend to release, your timeline should include a maximum of three draft revisions, otherwise it means someone from your party or the agency’s is doing a bad job at understanding the task at hand. Ask for mock-ups all the time before giving the last approval. The process should reach your top company executives only in this final stage.
Here are important notes when hiring a graphic design agency to deliver the “goods,” say, a new logo, or a website re-design.
Know exactly what you already have and what you need. It is wise not to expect a graphic design agency to know the full range of your communication needs. So before talking to an agency, discuss first within your organization what the particular marketing goals are. These should be aligned with overall company vision and goals for the year, then broken down into particular objectives, and when you want each of these accomplished. Then, check what materials you already have, and whether some of these simply need to be updated. Only then can you brainstorm with an agency what else can be developed to meet each goal.
Compose a written contract for every job order, and have it signed. Some companies forego this process, especially when they are dealing with add-ons. For example, they just sought a design for a custom marketing material for an event, but realized the company brochure need to be updated. To avoid confusion, every job order should have a carefully written description, one that includes the definite timeline and the fee, among other details. Then, it should be duly signed by the agency representative.
Designate a single point of contact for the company. There have been too many horror stories of a simple task taking twice or thrice as long to complete because a lot of voices seek to be heard. It confuses the designer, and diffuses accountability when the final output is not up to par with expectations. On the other hand, having a single point of contact – most preferably someone from the corporate communications who is conversant in visual communications – ensures that requests adhere to the company’s guidelines, and at the same time understood well by a graphic design services provider from outside the company.
Have an efficient approval system. Whatever material you intend to release, your timeline should include a maximum of three draft revisions, otherwise it means someone from your party or the agency’s is doing a bad job at understanding the task at hand. Ask for mock-ups all the time before giving the last approval. The process should reach your top company executives only in this final stage.
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